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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    4

    Angry Water Damage to Property During a Motel Stay

    My question involves a consumer law issue in the State of: Arizona

    Recently my family stayed at a well known budget hotel chain, as they were the only hotel rooms available over our weekend trip. We were woken up to water flooding in our room. I received a phone call from my mother whom was staying in a room directly behind use and she had informed me that her room was flooded as well as the persons room next to hers. She had a representative with the hotel with her and she wanted to see how bad our room was. I informed them that I had small children still asleep but they could come look at the damage. Upon entering our room the sound of the door immediately woke up my entire family, the lights turned and we could assess the damage the carpets were saturated as well as my 14 year old daughters iPhone 5 which she had left on the floor to charge. The hotel rep looked around to see if she could find a leak and didn't find anything she quickly eliminated anything coming from our sink toilet or bathroom area. I then confronted her with the issue of my daughters cell phone at which time she said put it in the sun that should dry it out. I then informed her that it was a $550 dollar phone and that her hotel was responsible for the damages at which point she started to shift blame to our toilet may have over flowed or something in our room that caused the problem after already ruling this out. She had yet to check the room to our left as was about to see the damages there but had said it was possible for the water to be coming from that room. With so much water in our room we couldn't stay at the hotel any longer so we ready our children checked out and proceed to a relatives house. Before leaving we demanded to speak to a manager and we were informed he was on vacation and wouldn't be in until late that night or the following monday. We again informed the representative about the damage to our property and she replied "well most people have insurance on there phones so that should take care of it." I let her know that the damage was not caused by our fault and we do not have insurance on our phones and that ultimately they would be responsible to the replacement. I took the managers information and called the corporate off to file a complaint. Later that day the rep from the hotel called and informed us that they would be discounting our stay 50% on one of the rooms and that should cover the damages to the phone. I informed her that, that wasn't good enough that phone was worth more then $50 and I would need to speak to the manager whom again wasn't available. We tried contacting him several times throughout the day until we were told he wouldn't be in until monday. My mom signed the checkout papers and we left.

    We didn't hear back from anyone all day Monday which was a holiday so that was semi understandable. We finally hear back form The Manager whom is also the owner that stated that he would not accept responsibility for the damage to our iPhone and would not be taking care of the damages. He then went on to tell me that he had a professional Plumber and Professional Carpet cleaner come and assess that damage and they determined the damage was caused by an over flowing tub in our room and he had charged our Credit Card for both those bills and the nights loss for not being able to rent the rooms. Mind you I have a 4 and a 3 year daughter which were also in the room with me at the time and a Tub full of water would be a huge problem. I was floored I know that the bath tub hadn't been on all night as I was up twice to use the restroom and would have noticed. I explained to him that this was not true and asked him to provide that documentation that was provided to him by these "Professionals" so that I can see where our room was the cause. He said he would not provide any such information and that the only information he would provide was the information where he charged my CC without my authorization or with out informing he was going to do so first. I had the contact information for the carpet cleaning company as I have family that lives in town and they saw the truck working on the rooms. The owner stated he did clean the carpets in the rooms but didn't give any diagnosis on where the water came from his direct quote was "I just cleaned the carpets that all I did."

    Ok with that huge story out of the way my question is where do I go from here? I know I can take this man to small claims court. But I feel violated and am wondering if there is any criminal actions involved here? He charged our CC without telling he was going to do and accused my family of something we didn't do.

    Any help anyone could provide would be helpful. Thank you ahead of time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    1 - The hotel is not responsible for the damage to the cell phone for something that was sudden and unforeseen that they didn't know was happening until it happened. So you can forget about that.

    If you have homeowners or renters insurance you are probably covered for that but you probably have a $500 deductible so it isn't going to be worth getting a claim on your insurance record for just a few bucks.

    2 - File a dispute with your credit card company for the unauthorized charges. If your credit card company won't reverse the charges, you have the option of filing a lawsuit against the hotel. If you have to file suit you are welcome to include the cost of the cell phone but I predict you will lose on that point.

    Oh, PS: No fraud here.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    Thank you for your response.

    We have a dipuste with our credit card company but i am not sure how long this will take. So I guess we have that going for us.

    If the pipes at the hotel were to have been busted would they then be liable?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Posts
    551

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    You said it was a chain hotel, have you tried contacting corporate for the chain? I travel a lot and have ran into some hotel managers who have been very difficult to deal with. In my experience contacting the corporate offices frequently gets things resolved. I would not expect them to reimburse your for your phone but I would expect they could reverse the charges.

    I would strongly recommend calling the corporate office and sending the PUBLIC messages on twitter and Facebook. Be professional in these messages and state that customer service has been unacceptable and you will not be returning to the chain. If you have any pictures include them. Be sure to include a phone number or email address for them to contact you.

    If that doesn't work then your next step would be legal action.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    we did file a complaint with Corporate and once the owner of the property contacted us informing us he was changing our card they escalated it to a manager. We spoke to the manager and they stated since it's an independently owned company that we would have to contact the owner of the property whom is the person who charged our card and is being difficult.

    In all honesty if they would have said contractually they are not liable we would probably not pursued it anymore and left it at that but the fact that they charged and blamed us for the hole incident is crazy I feel victimized. I try to be as honest a person as possible if water had come from my tub, toilet, since or anywhere else that was my fault I would pay for the damages and go on with my day.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    18,340

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    Quote Quoting m_ruiz14
    View Post
    If the pipes at the hotel were to have been busted would they then be liable?
    Basic negligence law.

    When damage is caused by a malfunction that is sudden, unforeseen, and unknown to the owners of the property there is generally no negligence involved and therefore the owner is not responsible for the damage.

    That's overly simplified, of course, but you get the idea.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Posts
    4

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    Ok that makes sense in the phone. So let's move past that.

    Do I have a leg to stand on with my other problem him charging my credit card without my knowledge or consent? Also he is accusing me of doing something that is untrue. Can I hire a lawyer to pursue criminal action? (Which may sound extreme. But I'm speaking hypothetical) he has done this to other people in the past I found out through posting on review sites. Would it be wise to hire a lawyer to go after him as well as the hotel corporation seeing as they failed to intervene in this matter?

    Obviously small claims court is my first option but I like to know just how far I can go.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Is It Fraud

    Quote Quoting m_ruiz14
    View Post
    Ok that makes sense in the phone. So let's move past that.

    Do I have a leg to stand on with my other problem him charging my credit card without my knowledge or consent? Also he is accusing me of doing something that is untrue. Can I hire a lawyer to pursue criminal action? (Which may sound extreme. But I'm speaking hypothetical) he has done this to other people in the past I found out through posting on review sites. Would it be wise to hire a lawyer to go after him as well as the hotel corporation seeing as they failed to intervene in this matter?

    Obviously small claims court is my first option but I like to know just how far I can go.
    Wait until you see if you get the charges reversed. Come back and ask further questions if that fails.

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